1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as a VTR or the like, and more particularly to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus arranged to load a tape-shaped recording medium therein by pulling the tape-shaped recording medium out of a cassette while causing the cassette to approach a rotary drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods have been known for making compact an apparatus, such as a VTR, arranged to record and/or reproduce information on or from a magnetic tape contained in a cassette by using a rotary drum unit having magnetic heads mounted thereon. For example, the apparatus has been configured as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 for reduction in size.
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a cassette mounting chassis 2 (hereinafter referred to as a slide chassis) on which a cassette 7 is to be mounted is provided separately from a main chassis 1 on which a rotary drum unit 3 having a rotary drum and a fixed drum supporting the rotary drum is disposed. The slide chassis 2 is arranged to be slidable with respect to the main chassis 1 between a position where the slide chassis 2 is located away from the rotary drum unit 3 as shown in FIG. 5 and a position where the slide chassis 2 is located close to the rotary drum unit 3 as shown in FIG. 6. Recording or reproduction on or from a magnetic tape 8 is performed in the state where a part of or the whole of the rotary drum unit 3 is located within an opening part 7a of the cassette 7. Further, there are provided a capstan 4, a tape guiding member 5 for pulling out the magnetic tape 8 on the tape entrance side of the rotary drum unit 3, a tape guiding member 6 disposed on the tape exit side of the rotary drum unit 3.
The tape loading action of the apparatus is as follows. After the cassette 7 is mounted on the slide chassis 2 as shown in FIG. 5, the tape 8 is being pulled out from the opening part 7a of the cassette 7 by the movement of the tape guiding members 5 and 6. At the same time, the slide chassis 2 is being moved in a direction of approaching the rotary drum unit 3. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the rotary drum unit 3 is relatively inserted into the opening part 7a of the cassette 7 by the sliding motion of the slide chassis 2, and the magnetic tape 8 is wrapped around the circumferential surface of the rotary drum unit 3 by the movement of the tape guiding members 5 and 6.
With the apparatus arranged as described above, in cases where the opening part 7a of the cassette 7 is not wide enough and where the rotary drum unit 3 is set in a deviating position due to the relative sizes or positions of the rotary drum unit 3 and the rotor part of a capstan motor 9, the moving paths of the tape guiding members 5 and 6 might come to interfere, in part or in their entirety, with the rotary drum unit 3 during a tape loading operation in which the movement of the tape guiding members 5 and 6 and the movement of the slide chassis 2 are performed at the same time. This problem is manifest particularly in a case where the apparatus is intended to be made compact.
To solve this problem, it has been developed, as shown in FIG. 7, to move the tape guiding members 5 and 6 to their tape-loading completing positions in advance before the slide chassis 2 is moved and, after that, to move the slide chassis 2, so that the tape guiding members 5 and 6 can be prevented from interfering with the rotary drum unit 3, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 5-217256.
However, the prior art arrangement as shown in FIG. 7 has presented another problem as follows. Since the tape guiding members 5 and 6 are to be moved in advance to their tape-loading completing positions, the length of a tape path obtained immediately after the tape guiding members 5 and 6 has been moved, i.e., before the commencement of the sliding motion of the slide chassis 2 (see FIG. 7), becomes longer than the length of a tape path obtained when the tape loading is completed after the slide chassis 2 has been moved (see FIG. 6).
The tape 8, therefore, slackens while the slide chassis 2 is in the process of moving. The slackened tape 8 then tends to come off the flange parts of guide posts of the tape guiding members 5 and 6 and other tape restricting parts such as a lead part of the fixed drum of the rotary drum unit 3, etc., and thus might be fouled or damaged. Although the tape 8 can be prevented from slackening by taking the tape 8 up by rotating a reel while the slide chassis 2 is in the process of moving, such arrangement, however, necessitates a complex tape loading action.
Another problem of the prior art example cited above resides in a long period of time required from the commencement to the end of the tape loading action, as the timing of the motion of the tape guiding members 5 and 6 differs from that of the motion of the slide chassis 2.
It is an object of this invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus which is made compact in size and which is capable of smoothly carrying out a tape loading action.
It is another object of this invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus arranged to prevent interference of tape guiding members with a rotary drum and yet to be capable of preventing a tape from slackening during the process of tape loading.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus arranged to curtail a length of time required for tape loading as well as to attain the above-stated objects.
To attain these objects, an apparatus arranged to pull out, from a cassette, a tape contained in the cassette and to record and/or reproduce information on or from the tape, comprises a rotary drum having a head for recording and/or reproducing information on or from the tape, a cassette mounting member on which the cassette is mountable and which is movable between a first position located away from the rotary drum and a second position located close to the rotary drum, and first and second tape guiding members arranged to pull out the tape from the cassette mounted on the cassette mounting member and to wrap the tape around the rotary drum, wherein at least the first tape guiding member pulls out the tape from the cassette before the cassette mounting member begins to move from the first position to the second position, and, after that, the first tape guiding member and the cassette mounting member move in directions of approaching the rotary drum.
These and other objects and features of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.